"Lift Up Your Hearts to the Lord"

A predominant theme in this past week's readings is that of willingly and gladly surrendering oneself to God. In the First Reading (Isaiah 6.1-2, 3-8) we were given a wonderful example of this. When Isaiah hears God ask, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?", he replies "Here am I; send me!"

Further, in the Gospel (Luke 5.1-11), we heard of the Apostles' efforts in their fishing boats. After a long time without success, Jesus helped them catch an abundance of fish. More importantly, however, Jesus told them, "from now on, you will be catching people", and to "not be afraid" about this challenge.

Between these two readings were the Psalm, which encouraged us to sing the praises of the Lord, and the Second Reading, in which we heard of the importance of spreading the Good News of God's love and Jesus's sacrifice on the cross for us. We can see, then, that spreading the Word of God is very much a part of our call as Catholics, and that we are to do so with great joy and positivity.

In keeping with these themes, my choir sang "Lift Up Your Hearts" as our processional hymn. It is an upbeat song that is a great way to start off the Mass. Here are some of the words:

Lift up your hearts to the Lord

Praise God's gracious mercy

Sing out your joy to the Lord

Whose love is enduring

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the Earth

Praise the glory of His name

Say to God, "How wondrous your works!

How glorious your name!"

We are indeed called to propagate the faith and spread the Good News of God's love for us. In order to do so to the best of our ability, there are a few things we can do first within ourselves. Recall that in a previous post, we discussed that before we "renew the face of the earth", we should first try to "renew the depths of our hearts", thus better equipping ourselves to truly and completely do God's will.

One major thing, as has been discussed in several blog posts already, is to cultivate greater gratitude, which in turn cultivates greater joy and peace. As the above song says, let us contemplate God's many wondrous works! Let us spend time reflecting on and rejoicing in the many wonderful works God has done in our lives, and the many beautiful gifts - spiritual, physical, and social - that He has given to us. When we can fully recognize and appreciate our many blessings, our hearts become lighter, stronger, and more prepared to passionately spread this joy and gratitude with others.

Also, one very important and significant way to "lift up our hearts" and "sing out our joy" is to strive to participate more actively and meaningfully in the Mass. 

It is a psychological principle that when we have done something many, many times and are thus completely familiar with how to do it, the process becomes automatic. When something is automatic, it can also be rather mindless - that is, we can do it without thinking about it. For example, when you have been driving for a while, you no longer need to think about which pedal is the gas and which is the brake; your foot just "knows" where to go. Similarly, we all likely sang our national anthem day in and day out when we were in school. Being so routinized, we could sing the words without having to think much about them. 

The same thing can happen in Mass. Other than in special seasons, such as Lent, the songs and especially the spoken responses are, for the most part, very much the same week after week, year after year. We become very familiar with the words that are to be said, and as a result, it can be easy for their recitation to be done with mindless automaticity. This is a problem I used to have. I would say the responses and prayers but at the same time, be thinking about what I was going to make for lunch, or homework I had to complete, and so on. Spiritual reading, prayer, and mindful practice have helped me to not do this anymore. Of course, I am not perfect, and I do slip up once in a while, but I work very hard to stay focused on what I am singing or saying to the best of my ability.

Let us all commit ourselves to being more mindful of what we are really saying when we recite the Holy Holy, Memorial Acclamation, and so on. Really, truly try to reflect on the words and their surface and latent meanings. The same thing goes when we are singing along with the hymns.

When we more fully comprehend and embrace what we are saying or singing at Mass, we can truly "shout with joy" and express that conviction by speaking and singing in a loud, clear, passionate voice. Our hearts and spirits can be invigorated, and we will get so much more out of the Mass. Then, we are better prepared to go out into the world and share what we have learned and experienced with others.

On a different note, we were all likely quite shocked and perhaps upset at the news of the Pope's resignation. Let us "lift up our hearts" in fervent prayer to the Lord for the Pope and for the positive future of our Church! 

May God bless you, today and always!

Karen